Tuesday, March 25, 2014

PATRICK (1978; Richard Franklin)Richard Franklin is a director I've been fascinated with since I was a kid and saw CLOAK & DAGGER for the 1st time. I had no idea who Alfred Hitchcock was nor that Franklin was a disciple of his, but CLOAK & DAGGER was hugely suspenseful and frightening to me as a youngster and I loved it. I love it to this day and even have a framed one-sheet from the film in my office at work. PATRICK was Richard Franklin's first serious feature after a couple sex comedies (softcore) he made in 1975 and 1976. Franklin was one of the directors to ride the wave of Australian exploitation cinema of that period to a career as a Hollywood filmmaker a few years later. His next feature, ROAD GAMES is his masterpiece in my opinion (though I obviously adore CLOAK & DAGGER). Truly it was "REAR WINDOW out the front windshield of a truck" in a away and an extremely effective thriller. PATRICK shows the beginnings of the filmmaker to come with it's memorable style and suspense. In that its main character is basically inert and silent throughout the movie, there is certainly a filmmaking challenged presented there, but between De Roche's script and the way Franklin handles the material they keep it lively for sure. Telekinesis is a pretty cinematic thing, so that helps a bit. I love the tagline on the Severin Films box: "The Original Comatose Killer Classic is Back". Watching Franklin's progression as a director from PATRICK to ROAD GAMES to PSYCHO II (which must have been kind of a dream gig for him) is a fascinating thing. I recommend watching all three close together. Upon first glance, one might think that PATRICK was written and designed as a response to the success of De Palma's CARRIE, however Everett De Roche says the script had been floating around for close to five years before it was made. I think it's interesting to note that the writer of PATRICK, ROAD GAMES, LONG WEEKEND and RAZORBACK, four seminal films of Australian cinema was actually born in the U.S. I had always assumed he was Australian or British until watching the special features on this discs. Speaking of which...

Special Features:

-First up is a lovely commentary track from the late great Richard Franklin himself. As not only a big fan, but also a student of movies, Franklin has lots of cool insights into his process, and the details surrounding the making of the film as well as his experience with the actors and so forth. A nice track. Wish he'd lived to do one for CLOAK & DAGGER.

-Vintage Interview with director Richard Franklin (21 mins)

This is a very neat little short documentary on Franklin himself. It touches on his history as a film student at USC and how he assembled retrospectives of both Hitchcock and John Ford while there. It also features him talking about directing the Australian show Homicide and how it was a great training ground for him as a filmmaker (showing some clips from the show as examples). There's also a lot from an on camera interview with Franklin talking about PATRICK and ROAD GAMES and the techniques he employed when constructing those movies. Franklin also speaks extensively about his experiences being a co-producer on THE BLUE LAGOON.

-Interviews from NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD (60 mins)This set of extended interviews comes straight from Mark Hartley and they were done for his film NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD. It includes interviews with the cast and crew - Richard Franklin, Everett De Roche (writer), Antony I. Ginnane (producer) and Susan Penhaligon & Rod Mullinar (stars).

OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSIONIn the tradition of great trailer collections like the 42ND STREET FOREVER series, this disc offers up a wonderful entree of Australian trailer delights. It's obviously a great companion piece to Mark Hartley's NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD documentary and the two should be placed back-to-back in your dvd collection. I really hope we see more releases like this from Severin's wonderful Intervision subsidiary (if you haven't checked out Intervisions previous movie releases, do so ASAP!).The trailers are broken down into three sections you can play: "Sexploitation and 'Ocker' Comedies", "Horror and Thrillers" and "Cars and Action", plus there is aPlay All" feature as well. Each of the three sections has a breakdown of each trailer so you can jump right to the one you want to see. The program runs 165 minutes so you've got a nice chunk of trailers to run with friends or in a party situation in the background (which this is ideal for).The Trailers included are:Sex Comedies:THE NAKED BUNYIPSTORKTHE ADVENTURES OF BARRY MCKENZIELIBIDOALVIN PURPLEBARRY MCKENZIE HOLDS HIS OWNALVIN RIDES AGAINPETERSENTHE LOVE EPIDEMICTHE TRUE STORY OF ESKIMO NELLPLUGGTHE BOXTHE GREAT MACARTHYELIZA FRASERDON'S PARTYOZFANTASMFANTASM COMES AGAINTHE ABC OF LOVE AND SEX AUSTRALIA STYLEFELICITYDIMBOOLACENTRESPREADPACIIC BANANAHorror and ThrillersOUTBACKNIGHT OF FEARINN OF THE DAMNEDEND PLAYSUMMERFIELDTHE LAST WAVEPATRICKLONG WEEKENDTHE NIGHT THE PROWLERSNAPSHOTTHIRSTHARLEQUINNIGHTMARESTHE SURVIVORDEAD KIDSROAD GAMESTHE KILLING OF ANGEL STREETHEATWAVEA DANGEROUS SUMMERNEXT OF KINCASSANDRA

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